NAKHON RATCHASIMA - A rescue tube being driven through the rubble in a collapsed under-construction railway tunnel is believed to have hit one of the three trapped workers’ vehicles, officials said on Tuesday.
Rescuers detected vital signs from their devices that showed the three men — two Chinese and a Myanmar national — are still alive, the Nakhon Ratchasima provincial public relations office said on Tuesday evening.
Two of the men were believed to be trapped in the first vehicle, about six metres away from the rescuers. The other one might be in another vehicle about 15 metres away, the office said.
A scanner and a sniffer dog had detected signs of human life on Monday evening, lifting rescuers’ hopes, Pak Chong district chief Kanatchon Sricharoen said earlier.
Rescuers were racing against time to clear a way through the collapsed section and reach the victims. The use of a metal tube was intended to prevent any landslides from blocking the entrance.
Ekarat Sri-arayanpong, a spokesman for the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) governor, said that a rescue team from China arrived at the tunnel about 5am on Tuesday and was assisting in the operation.
He also said it was possible the rescue tube had hit a large rock, not a vehicle. If so, they would dig around it and secure it safely before continuing the search.
Mr Ekarat said the SRT was investigating the cause of the tunnel’s collapse.
The collapsed section starts about 1.6 kilometres from the tunnel entrance, which is near Khlong Khanan Chit train station in Pak Chong district. The three workers were believed trapped about 600 metres farther inside the tunnel.
The provincial public relations office said on Tuesday morning that the rescue tube, 1.2 metres in diameter, hit what was believed to be a vehicle about 11.30pm on Monday.
Two additional tubes, each about 40 millimetres in diameter, were being inserted through the larger tube to increase air supply inside the tunnel.
Rescuers are also reinforcing the tunnel’s concrete walls, to ensure there is not another cave-in, as rescue workers reported that soil and rocks kept falling inside the tunnel.
The collapsed tunnel is part of the Sino-Thai high-speed railway being built between Bangkok and Nong Khai province, which borders Laos.
A Chinese backhoe driver, a Chinese foreman and a Myanmar truck driver were trapped inside when a section of the planned 8-kilometre tunnel collapsed during construction in tambon Chan Thuek on Saturday night. There were three vehicles in the tunnel — a backhoe, a truck and a car.
The rescue operation started soon after.
A large tube is being installed inside the tunnel under construction in Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima to prevent a landslide from blocking the entrance as rescuers prepare to help three trapped workers. (Photo: Nakhon Ratchasima public relations office)